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U of T Blues end 7-year, 49-game losing streak

Grown men cried and fans rushed the field as the U of T Varsity Blues ended a 49-game losing streak at Varsity Stadium tonight with a touchdown and a field goal with less than a minute to go.

By Robyn DoolittleStaff Reporter

Mon., Sept. 1, 2008

Grown men cried and fans rushed the field as the U of T Varsity Blues ended a 49-game losing streak at Varsity Stadium tonight with a touchdown and a field goal with less than a minute to go.

The final score, 18-17, sent fans leaping into the air as they celebrated a victory that's taken seven years to complete.

"I told you, I told you today was the day," screamed Simon Clarke-Okah as he, along with thousands of fans painted blue bounded onto the Astroturf in an end-of-game celebration.

Andrea Armborst jumped into No. 7's arms and emerged with black paint all over her face. She didn't care.

"We needed this! It's so amazing!" Armborst said. "And it was so incredible, right up until the end."

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It's taken a long time, so long, in fact, that many fans had given up hope of ever seeing a home-field victory at Varsity Stadium.

Goint into tonight's game, the U of T Varsity Blues had 49 winless games; the only thing they've won since 2001 – that's seven football seasons – is the Canadian record for most straight losses.

The Waterloo Warriors and Varsity Blues traded points and touchdowns throughout the second half. But with less than a minute to go the Blues had a chance to score a game-winning field goal.

And they took it.

James Sinclair, 22, quietly chanted "We are so gonna do this. We are so gonna do this."

The crowd went silent. The kick was good and Varsity Stadium exploded. Their team had done what no one thought they could do.

That was obvious from fan comments earlier in the evening.

Marc Kanatkin, for example, was earlier strolling by Varsity Stadium chatting on his cellphone when he noticed the U of T football team warming up.

"Hold on a sec. Hey!" he bellowed to the field, clutching the wrought-iron fence. "Why don't you guys win again this year? You suck!"

The 22-year-old returned to his phone call and wandered off.

A woman who had painted her right leg blue shot him a dirty look, grabbed a "Go, T, Go" cheering card at the ticket booth and defiantly marched into the stadium.

She joined a maelstrom of enthusiasm – the froshies with the thunder sticks, the bare-chested guys from the phys ed department who enthusiastically started a round of "Waterloo smells like poo" after a U of T player took a particularly hard hit, the scores of blue-painted Blues supporters.

And, finally, they had something to celebrate.

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